PRE-PRIMARY ACTIVITY PLAN #2

Name: Liz Fasterling Grade level: Kindergarten Focus Area: Reading, Mathematics Context and Description of Activity The students in Mrs. Hoveys classroom are currently working on a literacy unit that focuses on the importance of being yourself. The class has read several books on this topic, including A Bad Case of Stripes and I Like Myself, and they have also begun working on selfportraits. In order to fit in with this unit, I planned on reading Kevin Henkes Chrysanthemum to the class and then having the students draw a picture of what they like most about themselves; however, after Mrs. Hovey conducted a similar activity with the class, she and I discussed that the students werent quite ready for this level of thinking (when asked what they liked most about themselves students gave answers such as, I like blue or I like Batman). Therefore, I decided to modify my plans by incorporating a different activity to go along with the text. During this lesson, the students will listen to the story Chrysanthemum with a few brief stops to check for understanding and go over vocabulary words. Then, the students will work independently to create a page for a class book about how many letters are in their name (in the story Chrysanthemum, the main character is teased about her name for numerous reasons, one of them being that her name is so long). Each student will receive a baggie containing the letters in their name, and will glue the letters onto a piece of construction paper. The students will also fill out, and then glue onto the paper, a sentence strip that says I have ____ letters in my name. Once this is finished, students will come together at the carpet and work as a team to put the pages in order from shortest name to longest name. Finally, the pages will be compiled into a classroom book and will be available for students to read in the classroom. Pre-Instructional Decisions Group participation: This lesson will include both whole group and individual activity time. The story will be read to the whole class, and students will work on their book pages independently. After their pages are complete, students will come back to the carpet to work together to put the pages in order (shortest to longest name) Learning groups: There are 19 children in this classroom, and this lesson is designed for each student to participate. Room arrangement: The read aloud will be performed at the carpet, with the children sitting around the perimeter. The students will then be released to their tables, which are organized in the middle of the room. Each student has an assigned seat that he/she will work at. Date: October 3rd, 2012 School: MRH ECC Time: 10:20 AM Coop Teacher: Sally Hovey

Learning materials: This lesson will make use of the story Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes, as well as construction paper, letter cutouts, glue, pencils, and crayons. Assigned responsibilities: There will be no assigned student responsibilities during this activity. Anticipated time allotted: 3040 minutes

Learning Experience Strategies and Sequence Procedure: 10:20 Introduce the story to the students by going over the title, author, illustrator, and general plotline Vocab words: Have students act out the words when they hear them in the text Wilted (became droopy, limp, lost energy). Action = slouch/slump over Dreadful (very bad; something that makes you very unhappy). Action = frown Read the story, stopping to check for understanding about how Chrysanthemum feels at various points in the story and why (before she goes to school, after the girls start teasing her, and after she meets Mrs. Twinkle) 10:35 After the story is finished, introduce the name activity Show students a model (pre-made) using Violets name Go over behavioral expectations (listed below) Call students one at a time to begin working on their pages: Pass out bags with letters and colored paper at the carpet, then release students to their seat. Once students have their letters arranged and their sentence strips filled in, they may raise their hand to signal they are ready for a glue stick Monitor students as they work 10:50 After 1015 minutes, call the students back to the carpet Have students group their finished pages into piles or rows according to how many letters are in their name (provide as much support as is needed) Questions to ask: Whose name are the longest? Whose name is the shortest? Which name length (# of letters) in the most/ least popular? Expectations: Use inside voices (refer to voice level chart) Orient your paper so the holes are at the top Take turns using the glue sticks (if needed) If time allows, you may color on your page, but do not cover the white paper Adaptations: While there is a child with special needs in this class, he typically spends his day in a different classroom. During times when he is in Mrs. Hoveys classroom, he has a personal aide who works with him one-on-one and modifies activities as is necessary. Because we are working to create something representative of the whole class, I will provide the student and his aide with the materials needed to make a name page to be included in the book.

Closure After the students have decided on an order for the pages in the book, I will collect the pages in order in preparation for getting them bound. If time remains before the lunch period at 11:15, I will turn the class back over to Mrs. Hovey. Assessment Individual assessment: Students pages will serve as an assessment for the activity. I will be looking to see: o Did the student count the numbers in his/her name correctly? o Did the student use one-to-one correspondence to count each letter? o Are the letters glued in the correct order? o Are the letters oriented properly? o Did the student complete the sentence by writing the correct number? o If applicable, did the student use the capital letter for the first letter in his/her name and the same lowercase letter for the middle of his/her name? (e.g. Timothy, Penelope, Alexander) Group assessment: I will write down any noteworthy observations while students are putting the book pages in order. One thing I will be looking out for is: Do any students think that short names with spaced out letters are longer than long names with squished letters? e.g. E t h a n vs. Patrick Activity assessment: I will assess this activity through a reflection, focusing on what worked (based on the notes described above) and how the activity might be improved. Some aspects upon which to reflect might include: o What challenges did students have with putting their classmates names in order? o What challenges did students have with gluing their name onto a blank canvas? Did any students need more spatial support (e.g. lines, empty boxes, etc.) o What did students seem to enjoy about the activity? What did they not enjoy? Standard Integration NAEYC Standards STANDARD 1. PROMOTING CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING 1c. Using developmental knowledge to create healthy, respectful, supportive, and challenging learning environments STANDARD 3. OBSERVING, DOCUMENTING, AND ASSESSING TO SUPPORT YOUNG CHILDREN AND FAMILIES 3c. Knowing about and using observation, documentation, and other appropriate assessment tools and approaches STANDARD 4. USING DEVELOPMENTALLY EFFECTIVE APPROACHES TO CONNECT WITH CHILDREN AND FAMILIES 4a Understanding positive relationships and supportive interactions as the foundation of their work with children

4b. STANDARD 5. 5c.

Knowing and understanding effective strategies and tools for early education USING CONTENT KNOWLEDGE TO BUILD MEANINGFUL CURRICULUM Using their own knowledge, appropriate early learning standards, and other resources to design, implement, and evaluate meaningful, challenging, curricula for each child

Missouri Kindergarten GLEs MATHEMATICS Number and Operations 1.A: Rote count to 100 and recognize numbers up to 31 Measurement 2.A: Measure objects by comparison of lengths (shorter, same, longer) READING Reading 1.Ad: Distinction between letter and word Reading 1.E: Develop vocabulary by listening to and discussing unknown words in stories Reading 1.Ib: Identify connections, with assistance, between text to self (text ideas and own experiences) MoSTEP Professional Competencies 1.4 Engages students in the methods of inquiry used in the discipline 4.1 Selects and creates learning experiences that are appropriate for curriculum goals, relevant to learners, and based upon principles of effective instruction 5.2 Engages students in active learning that promotes the development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance capabilities 6.2 Manages time, space, transitions, and activities effectively 8.3 Evaluates the effect of class activities on both individual and the class as a whole, collecting information through observation of classroom interactions, questioning, and analysis of student work 10.2 Talks with and listens to students, is sensitive and responsive to signs of distress, and seeks appropriate help as needed to solve students problems MoSTEP Subject Specific Competencies 1.3 Understands major theories of teaching and learning, including their logical and empirical foundations and the applications of these theories to diverse learners 2.3 Uses developmental knowledge to create healthy, respectful, supportive, and challenging learning environments, materials, resources, and activities appropriate to various developmental levels of all children birth through age eight. 6.3 Creates learning environments using concrete manipulative materials, child choice and decision making, and play as a context for enhancing development, active learning, and the construction of knowledge 6.4 Facilitates childrens skills in communication, inquiry, logical and critical thinking, problem-solving, creative expressions, and interpersonal relations 7.5 Communicates and works effectively with support staff, volunteers, colleagues, and other professionals within the learning environment

Future Implications As stated previously, the actual topic of this literacy unit is about the importance of being true to yourself. While this is not the focus of my post-reading activity, I am planning to briefly touch on this topic during the read aloud to help students understand (by making text to self connections) that its okay to be different from your friends. Hopefully, through repeated exposure to books about this topic, this will become a more fully understood concept for these students. The post-reading activity for this lesson has more of a mathematics focus, and the process of putting the pages in order from shortest to longest will help students to develop a beginning understanding of measurement. With repeated exposure and practice, this understanding will build a foundation for further work with nonstandard units of measurement, as well as with activities that require students to make observations and draw conclusions about a set of data. Reflection Overall, I was very pleased with how this lesson went. The students seemed to enjoy both the read-aloud and the name activity, and because the lesson did not come from a teachers manual I felt like I had more ownership of the goals and learning sequence. Two aspects of the lesson that went particularly well included the organization and preparation of materials, and the creation of the graph with the whole class at the end of the lesson. Before beginning the activity, I questioned my decision to pre-type and pre-cut the letters in each students name. I thought that it might be more meaningful if the students wrote their names and cut out the letters themselves, but as I was watching the children complete the activity I noticed that several children had difficulty with the task as it was presented to them. Looking back, I think asking students to write their name, cut out the letters, and glue them in order wouldve made the purpose of the activitycounting using one-to-one correspondencemore challenging to assess. At the end of the lesson, the class came together and helped put numeral cards from 19 in order in a column on the carpet. We then went down the line (Whose name has 4 letters? Whose name has 5 letters? Whose name has 6 letters?) and students placed their book pages in rows next to the number that represented how many letters they had in their name. Having the numbers 19 on the carpet was very helpful for this task, and appeared to provide just the right amount of support for the children to group their names together. Furthermore, the creation of the chart helped the students to compare the data during our discussion. For example, in response to the question, Which group has the most names?... How do you know? one student said, Names with 5 and 6 letters, because they both go out to there (pointing to the end of two rows that were the same length), and another student said, All of these rows have 4 in them. See? One, two, three, four (pointing to and counting the pages in rows 5, 6, and 7). Although not the focus of the activity, one thing that students struggled with was making text-to-self connections with the story. As mentioned previously, this was something students had shown difficulty with in previous lessons, and is clearly still not a concept that they have grasped. In response to my question, Have any of you ever felt like Chrysanthemum did in this story? I received responses such as, Chrysanthemum felt sad when her friends teased her, and Its not nice to make fun of your friends. Due to the fact that making text-to-self connections is a kindergarten GLE (Reading1.Ib), this is something that should be focused on in future literacy lessons with the students.

One thing that surprised me during this lesson was the group of students who had difficulty with the name activity and, conversely, the students who had no trouble at all. For example, Penelope (a very bright and capable student in the class) had a hard time completing this activity independently. She did not understand how to put the letters of her name in order from beginning to end, and needed Mrs. Hovey to sit with her and guide her through the task in small steps. On the other hand, Timothy (a student who only attends kindergarten in the morning and often struggles with staying on-task) was one of the first students to put his letters in order on his paper, all of his letters were oriented correctly, and, as I observed, he counted his letters using one-to-one correspondence. Taken as a whole, this observation reminded me of a mindset that I know I am guilty of having that students who are more advanced academically will not need help or get anything wrong, while students who are less advanced will need a lot of support. This activity was a good reminder to not fall into that mental trap, because it showed that students who struggle on some tasks dont have trouble with everything, and vice versa. Moving forward from this lesson, I think Mrs. Hoveys students are ready to engage in more work with comparing and ordering numbers, which is a topic Mrs. Hovey mentioned that the class would be starting soon. Although I only visited the class twice a week, I observed most students in the class using one-to-one correspondence and am confident that the class, as a whole, has a firm understanding of counting objects up to 10 (at least). When completing this activity, only one student incorrectly counted her letters, which was an error she realized and fixed on her own when she went to put her page in order. As far as my own next steps are concerned, I would like to explore how to structure mathematics lessons to include more small group work. Using smaller groups would help with assessing students understanding and tailoring instruction to meet students needs, and although it is difficult to do as a practicum student, Id like to learn more about how to effectively implement small group work for when I have a classroom of my own.